CONSERVATORS’ WORK 151 
result the young growth was either partially or 
totally ruined, while the effect on the field crops 
was most disastrous: it was as if a fierce fire had 
passed over the land and burnt up the vegetation in 
its course. 
In the Chakhia Forest, which lies one march west 
of Charda, is one of those old forts which the chief- 
tains of olden time held against their brother-robbers 
as a stronghold for the loot gained in ravaging the 
country around. The general design of these forts 
varied but slightly with their size, and consisted of 
outer defences of ditch and bank enclosing a citadel 
similarly guarded, the whole commanding a peren- 
nial stream that was sometimes approached by a 
covered way. During the Mutiny such forts had 
often caused much delay and loss to the British 
forces, though with modern artillery they would 
soon become untenable under shell-fire from a dis- 
tance. At present the earthworks have crumbled 
away; they lie mysterious and suggestive in the 
silent forest, their overgrown ditches and mounds 
affording shelter and the security of a distant out- 
look to the wild animals which frequent them. The 
wild-dogs and hyenas have their burrows in the 
deserted slopes, and panthers love to bask on the 
ruins of the walls; even tigers are grateful for 
the solitude that now reigns where once rapine and 
bloodshed were frequent. 
At the ruined entrance to the Chakhia Fort I sat 
one evening in a small tree that scarcely topped the 
remains of the outer wall at my back. From thence 
to the ‘“‘machdn” was but a short spring for any agile 
animal, but no other vantage-ground had presented 
